1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a collapsible trash container for use with film plastic grocery bags, and more particularly, to a container adapted to support plastic grocery bags in an open position so that they may receive trash.
2. Description of the Related Art
An increasing number of commercial stores are using plastic grocery bags at the check-out counter to package goods that consumers purchase. These bags are generally formed of flexible sheet plastic and have two handles to facilitate carrying. The handles have the appearance of a T-shirt, hence they are called, and will be referred to hereinafter as, "T-shirt bags."
Before the widespread use of T-shirt bags, many stores used paper bags at the check-out counter. Consumers often re-used these paper bags, inside rigid containers, to receive trash. Paper bags function well as liners for trash containers since they are self-supporting and remain upright when placed in a trash container.
T-shirt bags cannot be re-used as easily for this purpose since they lack rigidity. They do not remain in an open position in the trash container without some type of support.
In response to this problem several types of devices have been proposed. One type is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,763,808, 4,735,340 and 4,535,911. These patents disclose attachments or brackets adapted to be affixed to the edges of an otherwise conventional trash container to hold a T-shirt bag in an open position.
A second type of container for plastic bags is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,664,347 and 4,576,310. These patents disclose rigid plastic containers having bag-engaging members integral with their bodies to hold a T-shirt bag in an open position.
Collapsible containers have also been proposed, although not with respect to trash containers. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,459,357 and 3,550,833 disclose collapsible boxes that are adhesively lined with inner plastic bags. These boxes are primarily used for shipping liquids and viscous, powdered or granular substances.